PETALING JAYA, Aug 6 — Penang-born director Sam Quah was pursuing his master's degree, when he came across a news article about a mother's relentless effort to locate her tragically murdered daughter.

The haunting narrative inspired Quah to write his inaugural feature-length film, A Place Called Silence, his second directorial effort following the success of 2019's, Sheep Without a Shepherd, an official remake of India’s Drishyam, which opened at the top of the Chinese box office in late 2019.

The film’s box-office receipts not only surpassed the billion yuan mark, but it also became one of China’s 10 highest-grossing films of 2019, placing Quah as the first Malaysian filmmaker to achieve the feat.

It also received numerous nominations including for Quah, who was shortlisted for Best New Director at the 27th Huading Awards and eventually won two awards at the 11th Youth Film Handbook Awards for China’s Best Commercial Film of the Year and Best Performance of the Year.

Unusual as it may sound, Quah chose to recast, remake and re-release his own 2022 film about bullying — and the effort seems to have paid off, with it becoming a box-office hit across East Asia.

Not so unusual though if one were to think about it, as the star of the 2022 production, Taiwanese actor Jag Huang, was caught up in the sweeping #MeToo wave last year, and was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting another man's wife, which prevented a release in China.

A Place Called Silence originally debuted at the Busan Film Festival in 2022, but the 2024 remake has been getting a lot of attention, grossing US$50 million (RM223 million) upon its theatrical debut in China.

The film is a harrowing tale of a school girl facing relentless bullying on campus, which ends in a tragic fall to her death.

The violence however continues, with a chilling chain of enigmatic serial killings.

A Place Called Silence opened in China on July 3, and currently ranks in second place for the highest collection of 2024 for the summer season so far, raking in 1.29 billion yuan (RM806 million) at the Chinese box office earnings.

The summer period is the longest single screening season on the Chinese mainland from June 1 to Aug 31.

The film which stars Janine Chang (who is currently romantically tied to Quah), Eric Wang and Francis Ng, is now showing in Malaysian cinemas.

Members of the cast and Quah will make an appearance on Friday at Pavilion KL at 7.30pm at Connection, Level 3.

The film officially opens in Malaysia on Thursday (Aug 8) and Singapore next week (Aug 15).